I got this guy 3 weeks ago, I have not handled him much at all, but he doesn’t seem to be acclimating so far. He has not eaten, breeder said he has eaten both FT and live but he has refused 3 ft rat pups so far, smells a little but won’t come out of the hide or strike. I tried leaving one by his hide and he actually left and went to the other hide I think to get away from it. I’m concerned…he was very expensive and I don’t want him to get sick from stress and obviously I need to get him eating. I can black out the sides of his tub, downsize the tub and or hides…try a live mouse this weekend instead of ft rat, I just need to know what to try first. If I lose him it would be catastrophic!
The ideal hide for a lot of BP is a hide that fits the snake like a shell fits a turtle.
At that size I would downsize the tub to 12 quarts or V18
Of course if the weight is under 250 grams I would downsize to 6 quarts.
Your goal is to emulate the breeder setup when you have issues from the start do that would be a good place to start and ask how the animal was kept (tub size, substrate, temps) evey little detail can make the difference.
One of my new guys was picky and all I did was drop the tub size, black out the sides and leave him in a dark room for a week or so. He was doing the same thing yours is and was acting afraid of the food. Im sure anything I suggest you’ve already tried. Best of luck and keep us updated!
I bet he takes a live rodent when you give that a try! That’d be my first go-to solution. If he still refuses I’d reduce the size of the enclosure. My juveniles have thrived in grey 70 series (big breeder female size) tubs with two similarly sized hides.
I think all good advice. If you don’t have a smaller tub you could try making that one smaller by adding some stuff to take up space. I bet smaller hides will have a decent effect.
Just a quick off topic thing: what is he? fire pied? OD? Looks nice!
Ok update: I took one of my gray 22 x 17 tubs and made a divider from some poster board. Made a couple smaller hides from some little Target tubs, and a smaller water dish. I’m going to throw a live mouse in Friday or Saturday. I’m hoping he was in some form of the FB/ARS style tubs and just being in something clear is just too much stimulation and too big a space. If I can get a feeding response established I’ll get him back on pups and go from there.
Also I have BARELY handled him at all trying to get him settled in, I literally never noticed the giant smiley face I only ever saw him the other side up that’s pretty dope.
@biologicalcanvas Thank you, he’s my first male, I have 3 assorted het pied girls I started with last year that are all in the 1100-1200G range, I just need to get him on track and keep them going and I’ll be very excited towards the end of this year or sometime early next to hopefully be able to start some pairings. I was looking at a couple other males (an ivory pied and something similar) that were quite a bit less expensive and my breeder friend/mentor in Utah kept bugging me over and over again for weeks with how this was the perfect one and I just needed to do it. I’m really glad He did. If he does prove for clown I got him at a steal either way I’m very excited (and nervous) to have him.
I have some pastel, pinstripe, fire, YB, and lesser mixed in the girls waiting. Hoping to pick up a big adult clown girl at some point later this year so I can try and prove him out with her next year also.
Sounds like you have a BP like my Bellatrix. Only thing she ate for me after going on strike was a live mouse. After a couple live mice she took ft rats no problem thankfully.
@biologicalcanvas thanks, and yes I agree wholeheartedly. I’ve gotten really lucky where all the first females I got last year have been very easy feeders who went at it right away so this is a first and it’s a good learning experience. here’s to many more!
I had the same problem with a 100% het pied pastel banana male. The only thing that got him back to eating is that I filled his cage with some loosely crumpled newspaper and he feeds every time! He’s still very shy to handling but he is eating extremely well. I was skeptical at first but it worked well!
I have a proven breeder male that has not settled in/started eating reliably since I bought him in early December. I’ve tried everything with him and it took a live gerbil to get him to eat. He’s had two of those and a live mouse that lived with a gerbil (not in a row by any means, just total in the last 2-3 months). Got a live rat that I’ll try unscented first, if he refuses I’ll put it with the gerbil for a week and see how that goes.
I only ever saw him the other side up that’s pretty dope.
on him. He is going to be smooth with the ladies I tell ya.
here’s to many more!